1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an in-vehicle communication device installed in a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, various in-vehicle communication devices that are installed in vehicles, and that transmit and receive data to and from external devices have been developed. Recently, various technologies for complementarily performing wireless communication using short-range wireless communications including a dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) method, and long-range wireless communications including a cellular method have been proposed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-309865 (paragraphs [0010] and [0011]) proposes an in-vehicle communication device that connects to an access point for long-range wireless communication if there is no available access point for short-range wireless communication.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-268334 (paragraph [0010]) proposes an in-vehicle communication device that switches to long-range wireless communication if it is detected that the vehicle has started to move while data communication is being performed using short-range wireless communication.
In general, such in-vehicle communication devices handle various types of data. Examples of the data include probe information for which a high degree of freshness is required, and map information for which a not-so-high degree of freshness is required.
However, the types of data are not considered at all in the devices proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-309865 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-268334, and an appropriate communication method cannot be selected in some cases.